Eddy: Eight items on agenda, all related to gaming. Those are items under discussion

Cannot testify unless you have signed in.&nbsp; Asking to keep remarks to 2 minutes. Another hearing a week from Wednesday (Will schedule a third if needed). Ask you to please consider is charge of this committee is to work with city manager to draft host agreement. Most helpful if you would give thoughts on what you would like manager to put in host agreement.

We are here tonight to talk about proposed development of Wyman-Gordon site. In my five years, I&nbsp;&nbsp; heard councilors of this district would always talk about need to develop property. Whether you believe this is good project, or bad project, I think it is important to think about what we should do on this property. City of Worcester does not own Wyman-Gordon property. For us to do so we would need multiple million dollars or we would have to try to take it by eminent domain through lengthy court fight. I want you to keep that in mind. Second portion: the hotel proposed is not proposed for Wyman-Gordon. Developer is Richard Friedman. He was first invite of this city 14 years ago. Pre-dates almost all of us. Re-invited by them Mayor Tim Murray.

Rushton: I&rsquo;m impressed with size of crowd. Not shocked by it, but I&rsquo;m impressed, ultimately we&rsquo;re here to help craft community host agreement. Beacon Hill made it clear the council rill not be voting up or down as to whether casino will occur in Worcester. In addition, Beacon Hill requiring Gaming commission by law to come back into each of the host communities which passed referendum and hold public meetings as to the impact on the community. The commission is going to give us the opportunity to speak. That opportunity&rsquo;s going to exist also. I want to re-emphasize, we are here about community host agreement. Just at own dinner table at Easter I Realized how divided people are going to be on this issue. Some factors we need to look at public safety, traffic, school impact, l9ocal business, possible cross-marketing, environmental issues and jobs. I&rsquo;m hoping some of those factors are included to help the city manager craft that agreement.

Former District 4 Councilor Barbara Haller at meeting

Mike O&rsquo;Brien: The Legislature and governor had laid out process through Gaming Commission. Three licenses statewide for full casinos (Category 1), one for slots (Category 2). Various proposers have submitted to MGC what was a long p roves, a long form of information about their suitability to do business here in the commonwealth. Now being reviewed by MGC. Expect determination of suitability of those proposers probably by May. Just recently, obviously, this committee is aware as well as public; an entity by name of Mass Gaming Entertainment LLC has chosen Worcester as their proposed city and Wyman-Gordon site for Category 2 license. That organization is in joint venture with Carpenter and Co in their proposal of slots parlor and full-service hotel. That hotel at this juncture has been designated for downtown. MGE and the city would engage in crafting host community agreement. That agreement would involve all the topics you mentioned, to include design, the nature of site layout, the realities of parking and traffic mitigation, public safety, public health and economic development as required. And a series of protections as deemed appropriate. Upon that agreement being executed I&rsquo;d be charged with execution of that document, once that&rsquo;s complete Rush Gaming would request of me to put it before council. Council would then receive it and make a determination on how to proceed at that point in time. The votes required by council would be two: 1.To allow referendum to proceed. 2. To determine citywide of just one district. From that time, it would be 60-90 days that referendum would take place. If referendum were to fail, at that juncture, it would stop there. If it were to pass, Rush Gaming would be packaging up referendum vote as sell as their design and would likely be making submission to MGC by October of 2013. The GC will be considering that, along with potential of three other for one location in commonwealth of the one license. We&rsquo;ve had ongoing conversations with developer, both with MGE and Carpenter and Co. They&rsquo;ve provided schematics. Do not have detailed traffic mitigation. Access point would be from 290, Kelley Square, which is on National Historic Register of traffic problems. Have been very forthcoming in asking for information.

1,200 slot machines are allowed. We expect it to be large in order to accommodate that as well as other uses. Would require parking (1,200-2,000 cars).

Palmieri: Countless discussions and different facts and figures. In your general knowledge of this project, is it accurate that you would think that at this point in time the investment for both hotel and slots parlor would be anywhere from $200-250 million, potential for up to 500 permanent jobs as well as difference in tax revenue. Is tax revenue from Wyman around 40,000 to 50,000? If this is built would that not mean $5-$6 million in tax revenue?

O&rsquo;Brien: Investment &ndash; minimum investment $150 million for Cat 2 license. Some numbers detailed re in excess of $200 m. Heard as high as $240 million.

Permanent jobs &ndash; I&rsquo;ve heard numbers in excess of 500, up to 600 permanent jobs. That would be above and beyond construction of facilities, both hotel and casino

Taxes &ndash; It is reasonable to assume taxes generated would be in millions. Would include hotel/motel tax as well. Depending on nature of how we work together could redirect state revenue, food and beverage and other revenue. Would certainly be multiple millions of dollars.

Russell: Any real plan available to show public? No real plan that&rsquo;s available at this point?

O&rsquo;Brien: That was a first-generation colored schematic that I did not believe had merit to pursue forward without having more detail that we could have folks understand .

Russell: Input from police chief, health commissioner, DPW commissioner. We're not able to give us feedback ads of yet?

O&rsquo;Brien: AS we get more specific information from developers I&rsquo;d engage my entire administration in this process. Much more prudent for them to weight that information and provide34 committee with di4rcte guidance as to their issues and or concerns. Every member of cabinet is going to be part of this.

Russell: I thought we already had that vote on whether it would be citywide or district.

Moore: Yes.

Russell: It will be citywide referendum.

Joe O&rsquo;Brien: I have a lot of concerns about this proposal but our process tonight is to hear about mitigation agreement. One question I had was just the process for releasing that mitigation agreement. Is it your vision that once you release that proposal, will that be in draft form, additional public hearings? OR will that kind of then be brought to council for decision on whether or not to bring to voters?

O&rsquo;Brien: I know and recognize the community obviously is concerned. What I did with CitySquare in first negotiation, brought document forward unsigned. Then allow any public comment prior to having it go to vote of council.

Rushton: Reason we&rsquo;re having this meeting down here, this is going to happen primarily in Green Island, so we wanted to have it down in this area to get opportunity to hear from residents within short walk from where this would land. Let&rsquo;s remember Green Island also is going to be primary impact. If there is not signed agreement, there are protocols in place to ensure fair and reasonable agreement. Obviously we want to be in control o the situation as much as possible.

Public Hearing

Lee Bona: President Worcester Area League of Women Voters. Oppose slot parlor in downtown Worcester because it means accepting adverse affects to addiction rates and quality of life in exchange for money. Research indicated slots are single most addictive form of gambling. Frankly, our most disconcerting discovery has been local and state officials become the most addicted to gambling and I don&rsquo;t mean you put your nickels in the machine. We have been following the press in every other city. Once one casino opens, there&rsquo;s a constant call by officials to build another casino. We don&rsquo;t want to see a slippery slope here. The jobs are all part-time, go-nowhere jobs. The highest percentage of problem gamblers in US are between 18-25 years old. Should also be willing to contribute to establishment of gaming certificate program. Environmental factors are critical for us.

Lorraine Laurie: This is not our first choice. Residents would want bank, supermarket and pharmacy. Not doing cartwheels for this proposal. If voters of city decided they want slots parlor in Worcester and it passes the gaming, the island needs to benefit. Island has given with 290, sewer project, 146. It&rsquo;s time for island to collect. We would like a bank. Crompton Park master Plan. Other parks have had money from CSX. Also we would like foot patrolmen. They work successfully in Island. Also some streetscape in general area, like Quinsig Ave finished. Want Kelley Square redesigned.

Margarita Oquendo: Concern as mother and grandmother. My thoughts about effects of gambling, I also did some research. Addiction is something I am very familiar with. Addiction is resulting in so many other things. Denial as they continue to drain resources, marriages, children and divorce will be dramatized. Homelessness, foreclosure and bankruptcies, families being forced out of their homes. There will be an increase in panhandling. Businesses ill face loss of income. Only money making will making pawn shops getting things for less. Higher rates of crime, traffic between 290 and Kelley Sq. Parking is another problem and I can see other businesses parking being consumed by . I was told to not bring moral issues into this. Ever see a fruit it looks delicious, but you bring it home and open it and it is rotting. That&rsquo;s how the slots parlor will be, pretty on the outside but ruining from the inside.

Victor Ortiz:

Mass Council of Problem Gambling. Not for or against gambling, we are concerned with families and communities around gambling. Substance abuse and mental health disorders. 1 of 5 pathological gamblers attempt suicide. As we look at this host agreement, and eco development, we put just as much or more effort into strategizing this addiction to gambling. We have absolutely zero resources for gambling addictions in Worcester. Closest is in Fitchburg. We found that Worcester has the highest rate of pathological gambling, we will publish that report soon.

We need a work dev plan for current providers that are trained in compulsive gambling. We need a gambling treatment site in Worcester that is comprehensive and able to work with victims.

&nbsp;

Art Shea

I run small business in allied health field. Been here 11 years. There's a reason to pass laws for gambling. One thing people realize is that it's not a good thing. We had these in the 60s to build a mall&hellip;. That we just got rid of. How are people from146 getting downtown? Be careful what you hope and the problem you might attract. Spent a lot of $ on infrastructure. Does this development help the images of the colleges/schools or will it hurt them? Thanks for listening, you are our city leaders, we citizens in this democracy are watching.

&nbsp;

Jeanne Shea

11 years ago, work for early intervention used to be part of UMass. Traveling around world and I know how difficult it is to get around, especially in this part of Worcester (Green Island, Kelley Square) Very problematic part of the city, a lot of crime, poverty, DCF involved. I do&nbsp; not see any benefit of slots, only will increase crime. Encouraging signs of downtown, please don&rsquo;t let this be one. WPI and diff. projects are helping. With so many colleges. Slots would drive people away from the city, I would end up leaving for retirement. This will not encourage families and bringing their children here.

&nbsp;

Mullen Sawyer

Oak Hill Community Center

Our CM really showed merit in showing the mitigating process into CSX, he has my faith and many of us have his support.

Green Island, Union Hill, Grafton, Upsala are all part of the community we represent. We need employment, minority employment, transportation. It would be wonderful if we could use a great business district around the parlor. Maybe we could think bigger and think beyond concept of cheesy parlor. We could think of ways to make our community culturally exciting and economically reliable.

&nbsp;

John Reed

Want to show my enthusiastic feeling for this concept. The slot parlor should easily win for a good district in Worcester. We could use a green roof like WPI onto casino. Beautification process by building rain gardens. This whole model is a new economic model. Strongly recommend using every tool we can. Worcester going green can lead technology revolution. In addition to that is the gold standard, we should reward the people who hit the gold standard of excellence. Worcester is great. No gain? No pain for Worcester.

&nbsp;

Considering partnering with RSG, we need a full understanding of his track record with companies. Against unionization, Philly broke its promise of family-driven jobs, Pitts broke the law with security guards. Mr. Bloom&rsquo;s record should be checked out, especially property tax assessments. Casino appealed 2013 tax assessments.

Kent Barley: The area directly south of the site is what we refer to as the island, one of the densest residential areas in the city. Also one of the most changing, diverse places. We have high turnover rate, a lot of unemployment, a lot of people on public assistance. Probably the worst place in world to put slots parlor. &nbsp;We&rsquo;re going to have to get something good. IT&rsquo;s going to have to be something that&rsquo;s ongoing. A 10-year plan or something of that nature, rather than just we&rsquo;re going to do this now and then you can go play the slots. If we have do have to take them, I think that primary concern in terms of mitigation is that area right there.

Barbara Roberts (Holden): owns property that spills over in Worcester. Against gambling here. I am longtime Air Force wife. Lived all over in US, have seen Atlantic City go down. I&rsquo;m 71 so I saw it. It was decent blue-collard neighborhood just like Worcest.er . This is going to change it into a sleazy place. I&rsquo;ve stayed in hotels in Reno where prostitutes working the men, it is definitely not good for the community. Would also like to say that I at this very moment, I know there is a gambler in this room who borrowed money from bunch of people in the coffee shops and dodges everybody because he just can&rsquo;t pay them back. You don&rsquo;t&rsquo; want to take your beautiful community and destroy it with sleaziness.

John Giangregorio: owns 148 Millbury, 182 Washington St and other properties. Canal District is very spread out area. Encompasses many strongly-identified corridors. We&rsquo;ve been meeting regularly trying to (talk about this) issue. Chair of Canal District Business Association. Had meeting last week. I think people are open0minced and waiting to see what mitigation may be. Excited to have $200 million investment waiting to come to city, flattering they want to come to Canal District of all placed. Was no Canal District 10 years ago. One thing that&rsquo;s concerning, will this become destination that people that come here just re buried there. We want to call for part of mitigation that Canal recreation program become part of that mitigation. We often hear about economic spinoff. Another r$20-$40 million project, supporting more jobs and economic opportunities. Canal community fund should be established. Benefits must follow the lease, so if slot parlor is sold that it is a slot parlor and not a casino. Our vision is to create destination neighborhood. I think this could be part of it.

Jo Hart: I&rsquo;ve gone through Ls Vega and Reno, seen housewives in curlers at 5 in the morning. Idea of 12 million cars is unthinkable. If Worcester is going to accept this have to start thinking about what kind o f city they&rsquo;re going to be. Railroad goes right through it. You can help restore railroad between Worcester and Providence, restore passenger rail to Hartford. Very upset with secret meeting that Rivera and Palmieri have had. I never heard of any meetings. I resent having neighborhood meetings. Have to have meetings at City Hall or some setting that are televised. Don&rsquo;t be divisive as you always are like that. Who knows what they were told. Let&rsquo;s stop secret meetings, have everything be at City Hall.

Alejandra Duarte: Worked at Angelica&rsquo;s. Bring good jobs, not any kind of jobs. Language should secure the rights of workers and fair wages. Workers have good health insurance, good benefits, communities gain because money gets invested in the community. As a way to keep those companies responsible, but is for them to have respect for the workers.

Colin Novick: An effort to put together host agreement by 26th of April. Do not believe it is possible for two elections to piggyback on each other. Real structural problem, host agreement is short term mitigation on long-term impact on a community. There&rsquo;ll be increased incidents of gambling addiction, crime, negatively impact attractiveness of city in terms of colleges recruiting new students. Be a problem in terms of attractiveness of community for new residents. Self-contained unit, aren&rsquo;t going to be spin-offs. They&rsquo;ll come , eat there, shop there, park there, they&rsquo;ll spend all their money there.

Tiny band-aids in terms of the impact this will have on the community. Even big-ticket items are not going to offset negative community impacts. Not all jobs are created equal. Not all businesses are created equal. These are not the jobs you&rsquo;re looking for.

Nicole Apostola: If this were such a great prospect for Worcester would be no need for mitigation agreement. We&rsquo;re following a process geared toward a positive goal for slots developer and basically no one else. This is a process that asks us to endorse economic development model that consists of ripping people off and targeting the most vulnerable among us. How much is it worth for someone to have house foreclosed on because they&rsquo;re addicted to gambling and can't get out.

Rushton: Want to make sure we stay focused on why we&rsquo;re here. We&rsquo;re here tonight to figure out what can go in a community host agreement. The council does not make this decision. You will make the decision and that&rsquo;s a great thing. Let&rsquo;s stay focused on that and I think we&rsquo;ll move forward in more positive fashion.

Roberta Schaeffer: president Worcester Regional Research Bureau (WRRBB): I no longer feel alone in this effort and I really most appreciate it. The bureau issued report on slot parlors several weeks ago. WE learned slot machines are most addictive form of gambling. They&rsquo;re&rsquo; referred to as crack cocaine of gambling. You don&rsquo;t need to worry about traffic on 146, 290, its right here. Equally important are slot parlors are incompatible with the development of Worcester.

Eddy interrupts Schaeffer. Everybody else has testified without being interrupted. I think I am owed the same respect. (applause)

Schaeffer: The bureau challenges council to produce evidence slot parlor has actually benefited city and improved its image. Where&rsquo;s the proposal? Why have members of council suggested referendum be held on June 25? Will voters understand what they&rsquo;re voting on? What market is being targeted?

****Schaeffer continues to talk.

Eddy: You don&rsquo;t get held to special treatment.

I&rsquo;d like to let other people speak. (Bangs gavel repeatedly)

Schaeffer continues to talk.

Eddy: I thin we deserve courtesy. I love when you&rsquo;re capable of chiding us. That&rsquo;s more than you just gave everyone in this room. There is no set date of June 25 election. On June 25 there is US Senate special election. There is no rush.

Rushton: There&rsquo;s a lot of passion in this room that&rsquo;s OK. But what we want, again, the reason I&rsquo;m saying this is I don&rsquo;t want people walking out thinking the council has more power in this than you, which is completely untrue. The reality is you are going to be voting on this. Going forward, there were some good question in here Miss Schaeffer, but &lsquo;let&rsquo;s stay focused on why we&rsquo;re here.

Ed Moynihan: How do we mitigate a net job loss, a proven net job loss. Mitigate urban blight a la Atlantic City when people who would be spending money on Shrewsbury Street are now spending it getting food and alcohol at slot parlor. How do you mitigate double the personal bankruptcy rate? How do you mitigate the sorrow of a child that loses mother or father to suicide? How do you mitigate the civic corruption of our life when public officials set unsubstantiated rules of job creation and economic growth? Only one way to mitigate this and that is to instruct city manager to say no to Mr. Bluhm. This is not giving us the right direction. Worcester deserve better and we demand it.

Kathleen Pagano: Mother of four, business owner, resident of city. Question is not what should go into host agreement. Do promises of low wage jobs and added tax revenue offset (negative impacts). Worcester has promising future, we are rebuilding, we can bring back manufacturing and other jobs. Let&rsquo;s not take step backward for promise of a quick buck. This is not economic development, this is blood money.&nbsp;

Paul Franco: I would encourage the host agreement to place the risk of the people who want to invest in it, last thing I want to see is our tax dollars going to finance risk of private enterprise. I don&rsquo;t want to bail it out five years from now when it fails. Let the businessmen take the risks and don&rsquo;t saddle us with a failed investment, because we can&rsquo;t afford it anymore. Let the people who've got the money take the risk.

Rushton: All the cost with this, including consultants, is born by the developers themselves. They hade to put up $400,00 it start of with, so the developer takes the hit on it.

(Mayor Joe Petty now at meeting)

Michael Perotto: I personally believe this is good thing for city. First, provide over 600 jobs. More tax revenue. From mitigating point of view, I&rsquo;ve seen that Crompton Park Plan, Mr. City Manager I hope it&rsquo;s part of agreement that you ask them to fund that. Number three, when building this project, have an environmental green effect to it. Foot patrols. I think many of you believe two issues Worcester, public safety and education. Whatever you can do to improve education within that neighborhood, is something I think you should do.

Allen Fletcher: Lives in district 11 years. Owns business sin district. Urban design instructor. I believe we all know, but I&rsquo;ll state it again. Casinos are designed to be internally-focuses, self-contained. Slot parlors are the bottom rung of these. I&rsquo;ve been to Las Vegas. I get up early and walk around. When I sty on old strip, if you stay on new strip you can&rsquo;t even walk around. Old strip, two blocks from casinos, people in trailer parks. Three blocks, horrifically rundown houses with pit bulls guarding God knows what. Atlantic City is a pathetic husk of what it once was. Do not allow restaurants in the slots parlor. I can see that as leading to a very genuine benefit to the Canal District.

Peter Snyder, retired physician: I&rsquo;m discouraged to learn Rush Gaming has been fined several times for violation of gaming laws. Don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;re doing that on purpose, but that&rsquo;s exactly the point. Can&rsquo;t be 100 percent prevented.

Dante Comparetto: (I was getting spelling of names)

Billy Breault, Main South Alliance for Public Safety: Mitigation money, hypothetically, we&rsquo;ve been battling prostitution on Main South corridor. Weather&rsquo;s warm now. Prostitutes are out there now. Looking at EMS, police, fire. Where does police and fire come into it? My concerns are the Beacon Street corridor, when it flows off Herman Street, hypothetically, front door or back door to casino. Do not think it would be red light district. A lot of people don&rsquo;t like a lot of things about slots, but I don&rsquo;t believe it will be Red Light District.

Deb Carey, Princeton (born and raised in Worcester): I think we can do something better with Wyman-Gordon site. Let&rsquo;s build indoor outdoor water park, with indoor recreation fields, plus the hockey rinks and perhaps even an elevated walking track so we can all get exercise year-round. Let&rsquo;s see what we can design and finance.

Eddy: Are you suggesting city purchase the Wyman Gordon site

Deb: No I&rsquo;m not, but you may want to consider that.

Jay Foley: When you Google the principals behind the project, they have a mixed reputation, extremely so.

Steve Gordon: Father grew up on Plymouth Street. The only mitigation in this is to pull the plug on this entire plan before it goes any further. This is a pure money grab for these people. All we have to do is look at Twin Rivers Casino in Rhode Island. Mothering but economic problems. The people who are going to be using this and the slot machines come in nickel slots. They can sit there all day and throw nickels into machine. Put the money in and push a button and some they just have to drop money in the machine. What is this going to do for the image of the city? Worcester city of colleges or Worcester city of slots?

Clarence Burley, Paxton: lived about 30 years in Worcester.

Mesfin Bashir: Not here to say OK or not OK. Main concern about crime. If it goes through, I think we&rsquo;ll need Navy SEALS in that neighborhood. Police even now are not handling situation.

Eddy: Worcester is very safe place to live.

Bashir: I don&rsquo;t think so.

Susan Moynagh: Board of Oak Hill CDC, vice chair Green Island Residents Group Inc.: If voters vote on this, would like to see benefits for both residents and businesses of this section of city. How about partnership with suppliers of products when they need anything, tie it in with local businesses. Make sure with jobs, focusing on job fairs , training. We need sustainable jobs. We need a bank, not just an ATM.&nbsp; A lot of us don&rsquo;t have transportation, we have to have jobs have to be able to get to these places readily. Big issue is traffic. Just had fire on Suffield Street. If slot parlors come in, increase in traffic.

Dave Kenney:

Kate Fitzpatrick: Council can enact living wage ordinance. Councils in Cambridge, Boston have done that ($13, $14 an hour, go up every year)

Sarah Loy: I do feel like I have to say .. I am strongly opposed to any sort of legalized gambling but I do feel like my arm is a little bit twisted. Should be requirement that owner provide annually, sizeable charitable donations for programs. Should be large and ongoing. In particular needs to include homeless services, environmental organizations and this is personal for me, services for low-0income and elderly who are statistically most likely to be affected by gambling. Compile some sort of paper or report. There should be an analysis, maybe in conjunction with local education folks of most successful strategies other cities have employed.

Eddy: Next meeting is April 17. Our anticipation we&rsquo;ll hear from Gemme, Brindisi

Noel Williamson: pastor Pleasant Street Baptist Church: This whole thing concerns me. I&rsquo;ve had people knocking on my parsonage door saying I can&rsquo;t pay my rent because I&rsquo;ve scratched away my rent money. I just feel for the families of these people. Just want to say, I&rsquo;m not for it but if city passes it, we need to have some money to mitigate it, to help.

Maggie Paynich:&nbsp; Wondering if hotel downtown would sufficiently help DCU recruit things they need. If it isn&rsquo;t I&rsquo;m concerned about that. Like to see what we might do with additional tax revenues. Like to see a dog park, more community center opportunities. More walking-friendly Kelley square. Fix up all the roads right near Kelley Square.

Joseph Zwirblia: Access road to airport divided community. The charm and character of Kelley Square must be preserved and Canal District and its neighborhoods. Theatre District should not become an island and not be isolated. Open the canal, link the theatre district, CitySquare and Shrewsbury Street. Money for many of our youth groups that are short of money these days.

Paula Courtney:&nbsp;

Harry Kokinas, family owns Table Talk Pies: Concerns particularly transportation. Not just question of Kelley square, it&rsquo;s the whole Green Island area. It is really separate from the city. Any real mitigation agreement really needs to take a broader look at the transportation in that area. Security is also a concern of ours.

Jefferson Mararian, Northborough, owns property on Water and Main streets, member of Canal District Business Association:

Sarai Rivera:

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Have a news tip or comment? Contact Walter Bird Jr. at 508-749-3166, ext. 243, or email wbird@worcestermag.com. And don't miss Walter with Paul Westcott on WTAG&nbsp;580AM Thursdays at 8:35 a.m.